Chasing Rainbows
by BoandNora-ItsOneWord
Summary: An Au Story in which Bo and Nora have been happily married for fifteen years before he is struck with cancer. How will they survive a disease so debilitating when Bo's pride makes it difficult for him to accept her help and Nora's stubbornness makes it impossible for her to do anything else? Told in A-Z Chapters.
1. Analyze

**A-Analyze**  
 _Prompt: Dancing._  
 **A/N: For the purposes of this story, Bo and Nora never broke up and have been married since their first wedding in 1995.**

It was their anniversary. He took her on a big boat setting sail at sunset. She wore his favorite dress. He always liked it when she wore Red…it matched her hair. They spent hours dancing in the quiet of the ballroom, his hand on her back as he held her close. Fifteen years. They had been married for fifteen years. She wouldn't change anything.

 _Except maybe this…_

She wiped down his face, now drenched with sweat. He was at the hospital now. He was looking up at her with so much love. It nearly made her heart hurt. The doctor came in a moment later. He ordered more tests. All she could do was swallow the lump in her throat as she asked if it would hurt him. Her huband squeezed her hand and told her that he'd be okay. He was strong...so much stronger than she was right now...but for him she would try. She would try anything for him. She kissed his forehead and told him she'd be waiting for him when he returned.

Sometimes it was hard to know that he might not be going through all of this if it wasn't for her…she knew he would fight anything for her. But what if he didn't want to fight? What if it hurt him to fight?

When he was gone, she held his pillow against her nose…breathing in the smell she had come to memorize. And she cried.

She was a lawyer. It was her job to analyze every detail of every situation…to come up with answers and solutions. But she didn't have any answers this time. There were no solutions that she could lay out in front of them…He fought in the war before she knew him…he survived multiple gun wounds…he was a hero in every sense of the word…so how could that same man be beaten by a six letter word.

 _Cancer…He had cancer. You couldn't fight Cancer…it fought you._


	2. Brave

**B-Brave**

He felt like less of a man, she knew…and it hurt her to know that she couldn't convince him otherwise. When she took vows with him, she had meant them… She still meant them...just because this was the worst, didn't mean she would cut and run. She would be there till the end…whether he liked it or not.

"You should go home," he whispered, when he returned from the chemo. She tried to hide the tears that welled in her own eyes.

"And do what exactly? It's not a home when you aren't there."

"Nora, please…this is what I want…I _don't_ want you to see me like this."

" _And what about what I want huh?"_ (Pause)"You would rather go through this all alone? _Damn it Bo…I am your wife_ …and I know that you are a stubborn man but this…this _isn't_ okay. _If you won't let me be there for you during the worst, then what the hell good am I?"  
_  
She watched him struggle to pull himself up into the bed…she wanted to go to him and make things easier but the last time she had done that, he had pushed her away as if she had slapped him. He was a stubborn man and he needed to do this alone. She would give him that but she would not give him space. She wouldn't allow him to shut her out.

"Are you sure you don't want any help," she asked, through tears?

" _I can do it_ ," he snapped.

" _fine_ ," she snapped back. She simply sat herself down on the chair and watched him. When he was finally propped up on his bed, she spoke.

"You can scream at me if it makes you feel better…If that's what you need then I can take it. But what I can't take…what I _won't_ take…is you shutting me out. I love you. I stood before God and our family and friends and I promised that I would be there for you in sickness and in health…for better or worse…I am _not_ breaking that vow. Are you telling me that if the tables were turned, that you would just walk away from me?"

"Of course not…"

" _Then stop feeling sorry for yourself_ …This _isn't_ just about you, you know? It's about me…It's about our family. What hurts you, hurts me. _So damn it, let me in._ "

He paused as he finally forced a smile and reached out his hand. She stood up and grasped it, placing a kiss on his knuckles. "I'm sorry," he said. "Will you forgive me?"

"I always do, don't I," she asked?

He smiled again but this time he meant it. She took that as a sign and crawled onto the hospital bed with him…her head resting on his chest so she could listen to his heart.

"This isn't how I wanted to spend our anniversary you know," he whispered?

"I know…but it's what we got. You have to stop expecting that you'll always be the strong one in this relationship…I can be strong too you know?"

"You're the bravest person I know…but you shouldn't have to be."

"I'm your wife…you've always taken care of me…it's my turn to take care of you."

She watched his face for signs of discomfort…and she was holding out a bowl for him to throw up in just in time. When he was finished, she wiped the back of his neck with a cool washcloth…held him in her arms as the sweat trickled down his face. He was a lousy patient but she allowed him to be for now. It was never easy facing cancer.


End file.
